Discipleship Is Simple, But Not That Simple

Discipleship is Simple, but Not That Simple
 
 
When I became a Christian, discipleship was simple.
 
This is because I was taught that being a disciple was forsaking all else and being committed to my local church and its mission. 
 
I said goodbye to my opera career and became a pastor.
 
I made disciples in the same way, encouraging people to forsake all for the sake of the local church and its mission. I was efficient, but wrong.
 
I realized all the men wanted to be pastors and all the women wanted to be married to pastors.
 
Because we’d taught them it was the highest possible calling. 
 
This was an obvious problem, but without a solution. 
 
It was a problem, because we could only hire about 1 in 100. 
 
Then one day, I realized discipleship cannot possibly mean forsaking all for the sake of the local church. 
 
Now, I still think discipleship is simple.
 
But it will look more complicated. 
 
It’s simple, because it is still to give your life to Jesus—all of your life. 
 
But it cannot mean forsaking all for the church. 
 
Because I understand that God calls us to serve Him by doing all kinds of jobs and living all kinds of lives. 
 
I could have been an opera singer and a committed Christian (though I don’t regret my decision to be a pastor). 
 
Being a disciple is being a whole human who has forsaken all for Jesus, if not the local church (unless that’s your calling). 
 
God created you with a certain personality, learning style, multiple intelligence, and a propensity to be good at certain things. 
 
He put values into your heart and they sit there now in order of importance. 
 
Being a disciple of Jesus is being devoted to Him as you live your life well for Him—and for you. Because your life is also for you, and you can’t live it otherwise. 
 
Why do you have things that you like more than others? It is so you will know what you value.
 
It’s your life, because God assigned it to you. He also wired you to enjoy what might be your calling. 
 
I hope your church is a place where you can be equipped to love Jesus and apply that love to all the things you are uniquely called to do. 
 
I hope that someday you will be able to do your creative purpose, that is, your vocational calling, for enough money to live and support your family. 
 
I hope that until then, you can find a way to serve the world well enough in some other pursuit so that you can make the money you need. I hope you don’t hate that pursuit, but if you do, I hope it doesn’t last long. 
 
I hope that today, you can focus (abide) on Jesus and on your values and decide what to do with your time, that is, the time God has assigned to you to build a beautiful Christian life and bring glory to Him as your Creator in whose image you were created. 
 
I hope your life will attract the attention of the non believing world and they will look past you to the source of the Light shining on your beautiful life.
 
God bless you today and always.